313: Chapter 305: Seventh Master Shen Qi’s Importance!
313: Chapter 305: Seventh Master Shen Qi’s Importance!
Wei Gongcheng had little fondness for Seventh Master Shen, who loved to wander aimlessly; primarily, it was the latter’s techniques that he found objectionable.
One could never tell when an extra eye might be planted nearby, and then, unbeknownst to you, Seventh Master Shen might’ve scrutinized even your most private monts while bathing!
Especially after learning the man had also installed such an eye in a girl’s room, Wei Gongcheng held him in considerable disdain.
What was there to see that rited such intrusion?
What could possibly be of interest?
“Sothing’s not quite right…” Seventh Master Shen mused, circling the room with a trace of solemnity in his eyes.
“I’m telling you… don’t go through a young lady’s wardrobe with such seriousness!” Wei Gongcheng scolded, his face lined with disapproval.
He was never a prude, but this behavior was frivolousness taken too far!
“There’s sothing inside…” Seventh Master Shen said gravely.
“What is it?” Wei Gongcheng asked, seeing the serious expression on the other’s face and patiently inquiring.
“Rouge and face powder…”
“Are you wasting my ti?” Wei Gongcheng’s expression grew darker by the second.
After all, isn’t it normal to find rouge and powder in a young lady’s wardrobe?
“It seems that the City God Wei doesn’t quite understand won.”
Wei Gongcheng: “….”
“A maiden’s rouge and powder are typically of a subtle elegance; it’s rare to find sothing with such a strong fragrance.” Seventh Master Shen turned, smiling, “This young lady has perfus from the Western Regions, favored by dancers there.”
“What seems to be the problem?” asked Wei Gongcheng, frowning.
“Won from the Western Regions believe that frequent bathing invites disease, so they may go a year without bathing.
Yet, as dancers must entertain guests all year round and sweat profusely, they rely on potent perfus and powders to cover up any sour odors.
Hence, dancers have a heavy scent.
That Shen Xue, coming from a Capital City sorcerer family, should know this common knowledge.
To recklessly use dancer’s perfu would invite ridicule from ladies of equivalent status.”
“Could it be…
a personal preference of sorts?” Wei Gongcheng hesitated, then suggested, “Because of this, you think there’s an issue with her?”
“It’s not a personal preference…” Seventh Master Shen shook his head, “She’s covering up a certain scent.”
“What scent?”
“The sll of blood!”
“Hmm?” Wei Gongcheng paused, staring at the other man in surprise, “Blood?
Why would there be the sll of blood in a girl’s wardrobe?”
“Maiden’s blood, if refined through a certain secret technique, becos concentrated and carries the unique essence of the young girl, but also emits a very strong odor!”
“How do you know this?” Wei Gongcheng was taken aback.
“Because I’ve seen it before…” Seventh Master Shen spoke casually, “When I was younger, I traveled to the Ancient Desolate Country and witnessed so demonic sacrifices.
Unlike the great state-sponsored sacrifices to demons, lesser fiends that cannot claim such positions seduce people with potential to conduct secret rituals.
Thus, heretical cults thrive in the Ancient Desolate Country.
And among the bizarre demands of these obscure demons, maiden’s blood is sought most frequently.
That Shen Xue is most likely involved in such activities!”
“Sacrificing maiden’s blood?
For what purpose?” Wei Gongcheng was astounded; he had been to the Northern battlefield in his youth but had never encountered such bizarre events.
“There are many uses, for instance… a girl like her, aspiring to enter the Jiangnan Academy, if her ditation aptitude is lacking, could utilize certain demons to boost her ditation efficiency over a short period!”
“Are you certain?” Wei Gongcheng grew serious, “Such a creature slipped into Lyuzhou and the Gate Deity sensed nothing?”
“This is precisely my concern!” Seventh Master Shen said with gravity, “The Lord’s Door Guardian System is infallible; any demon of a lower level than the Gate Deity hasn’t eluded detection for a year.”
“Are you suggesting that this creature… outranks the Gate Deity of Lyuzhou?” Wei Gongcheng was startled.
The Gate Deity of Lyuzhou was currently under Chen Qing’s command, the most promising of his subordinates.
After all, it was once the Wind Wolf King of the Ice Plains.
Over the last two years, it had rapidly progressed to a level seven Gate Deity.
In terms of rank, it was almost on par with the battle god Xu Hu, and equivalent to Wei Gongcheng himself.
Higher in rank?
Super First Rank???
If such a high-level creature had infiltrated and even mingled within the academy, it was indeed a matter deserving close attention!
“Most likely…” Seventh Master Shen nodded, “I felt sothing was off yesterday, as my Thousand Eyes Technique clearly sensed an Art Energy fluctuation in the room.
At the ti, I was puzzled and looked closer, yet saw nothing out of the ordinary.
But upon careful scrutiny, sothing seed amiss.”
“What was amiss?”
“In the scene, that girl Shen Xue was deeply engrossed in studying her mathematics.
This seed normal, but a closer look made it feel off.
Her books were very new, with hardly any annotations or drawings on them.
This is unusual because a student devoted to mathematics would normally have a textbook scribbled beyond recognition, comprehensible only to themselves.
Yet for that young lady, her books were as clean as if they were brand new.”
“And now…”
Seventh Master Shen pointed at a desk, and a blue-covered math workbook flew out towards him.
Upon opening it, it was filled with dense notes: “This content couldn’t possibly be the work of that girl in just one day, could it?”
“Why would this happen?” Wei Gongcheng asked, puzzled.
“Because the illusion technique is incomplete!” Shen Qi snorted coldly, “That damn thing is very powerful; the illusion was so lifelike I almost couldn’t discern it.
However, so details can never be perfected, such as the notes in this mathematics book.
It wasn’t able to imitate them, so it used a new copy—many of the contents are incomplete.
Obviously, it couldn’t rember all the true contents of this manuscript in ti.”
“Illusion technique…” Wei Gongcheng’s face beca extrely serious, “Is there sothing…
capable of using illusion techniques under the watch of your ‘Thousand Eyes Technique’?”
“Hmm…
I also found it incredible at first!” Shen Qi frowned, “But it seems to be the case.
That thing beside Shen Xue is no simple creature!”
“Then we must imdiately report to His Majesty!”
“Why involve His Majesty in everything?
What are we here for?” Shen Qi gave him a look, “Besides, His Majesty has to inspect the site of the Dragon Palace Spring Eye tomorrow—very busy.
If you tell him now, with his temperant, he’s likely to stay and solve the problem before leaving.
That creature is very troubleso and would probably cause significant delay.
Right now, the Dragon Palace matter concerns the fate of Jiangnan and cannot be postponed.”
“This…” Wei Gongcheng hesitated, eventually, though, he insisted, “Regardless, we must report this matter to His Majesty.
He can weigh the pros and cons himself and decide whether he needs to deal with it personally!”
“You really…” Shen Qi was at a loss for words, “You really are a stubborn one!”
————————-
The day of the assessnt passed quickly.
The Ground Academy had relatively few subjects to test—aside from ditation Aptitude, there were only Art Calculation and Physics.
So the exams were completed on the first day.
By contrast, the exams in the Xuanhuang Academies, especially the Huang Academy, covered a wide range, including dicine, astrology, divination, and many students applied for special talent assessnts, which naturally took longer than the Tianti Academies.
Thus, the Xuanhuang Academies held two days of exams, while the Tianti Academies released their results on the evening of the first day!
Many students from visiting families were startled—they hadn’t expected the examiners to be so fast at grading.
“Cousin…
your…
results ca out so quickly?” Shen Yang was also sowhat stunned, pointing at the soldiers holding the list, he excitedly said, “Look, look, the rankings are out.”
“Keep it down…” Shen Xue appeared very weak.
After a whole day of exams, she felt dizzy and her vision blurred.
She had intended to go back to her room to rest imdiately, but she didn’t expect the results to co out so quickly.
The tension wiped away her fatigue, and she could not help feeling excited!
This represented whether she could stay in Jiangnan…
The list that soldier held, it determined her fate!
The creature she’d brought seed off.
If she missed out this ti, she might not dare to use it again next ti, but if she didn’t use it, failing to pass the assessnts two or three tis could lead her overlooked self to be abandoned by the family.
Despite the Family Head speaking tenderly to her these past days, she was acutely aware of how cold her father could be towards offspring without qualifications!
“Brother Murong, who would have thought the grading here would be done so quickly?” Not far from Shen Xue, Murong Bingyun had also arrived at the exam site with his people, waiting for the distribution of the rankings, a flicker of anticipation in his eyes.
He was representing Northern Wasteland Country at the exams.
If he failed, it would be a big joke back ho…
That was a humiliation he could not afford…
“Yes, it is indeed faster than I expected…” Murong Bingyun nodded, “Not many descendants from families applied to the Tianti Academies, and unlike the study of classics, classical essays are lengthy and need to be mulled over again and again.
Several main examiners have to exchange opinions to give a fair score.
Rational studies are different; right and wrong are clear, there’s much less subjectivity, making the grading much quicker.”
“That makes sense…” The woman beside him nodded slightly, about to say more, when she heard a female voice interrupt, “Young Master is here, too?”
Murong Bingyun looked over, smiled slightly, and bowed, “It’s Miss Shen!
How are you feeling now?
Do you feel any better?”
“Thanks to the Young Master, I’m much better,” Shen Xue replied smilingly and returned the salute, “I have to thank you for your help today.”
“It wasn’t much help—just so words.
It’s mainly that this place gives enough importance to the students who co here to take the exams.” Murong Bingyun was about to continue when he suddenly noticed a peculiar straw man sticking out of the bag behind Shen Xue, his eyes flashing with surprise.
Shen Xue, seeing the look in his eyes, looked back and quickly stuffed the straw man back in, “Just a little trinket, the young master must be amused.”
“A trinket?” Murong Bingyun frowned slightly.
When he caught sight of that thing a mont ago, he felt as though his entire body was immobilized.
His intuition told him it was definitely not so ‘little trinket.’ It could probably compare to so century-old sacrificial objects from the heretical cults of the Northern Wasteland Country.
But why would such a thing be in the possession of a young girl?
Hadn’t all those who ca to the assessnt co from clear and honorable Sorcerer Families?
And perhaps it was just his imagination, but he felt as though…
that thing…
it seed like…
it had deliberately peeked out of the bag to look at him!
“Look, look, the rankings are up!”
Just as Murong Bingyun was about to say sothing, a series of excited voices interrupted his train of thought.
Everyone imdiately looked over, including Murong Bingyun himself.
After all, the exam scores were the most important matter at hand.
For now, the mory of the puppet was put aside.
But when he looked at the rankings, he was taken aback…
The published rankings only included the nas of the visiting students from other families, not the Jiangnan candidates.
That was to be expected, given the different exam content, but how could they be compared for ranking?
However, he was quite surprised by the na at the top of the list.
Mathematics First Place: Shen Xue!
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